Husayn does his bit for voter turnout: “I am happy to report that I found very few people during my post-voting trip through Baghdad who had not voted. I even got a few to “convert” and go out and vote. When confronted with the fact that staying away from voting was futile, some who had opposed the election relented, and went and made their mark.” I can’t get over the contrast between the optimism and positive outlook coming from Iraqis and the generic notion prevalent amongst US opinion makers that the Iraqi people were not up to the challenge of voting. These are brave people with hearts filled with hope. Our press kept making it sound like they were frightened, dispirited, defeated. If the vote is going better than expected it is only because expectations had been driven so low.